“You got fired?” A surprised Lily Evans asked, yet again, to her friend. Lovette threw herself across Lily’s bed and rolled her eyes
“Yes. How long is it going to take you to understand it? I. Got. Sacked.”

It was another “Girl’s Night” at Lily Evans’ house. A “Girl’s Night” was a night when Lovette and Lily (and sometimes their other friend) took refuge at Lily’s house and had sleepovers. At the moment, they were eating as much junk food as possible and watching old Muggle movies.

“How?” Lily inquired, throwing her mane of fiery red hair over her shoulder, as she grabbed a handful of popcorn.
“Your boyfriend.” Lovette answered dully while reaching for a chocolate bar. Lily’s handful of popcorn stopped midway to her mouth, as a scowl adorned her normally beautiful features.
“He’s not my boyfriend!”

Lovette grinned. Just the fact that Lily knew who she was referring to made Lovette want to laugh. The only person in the world Lily would not want as a boyfriend was madly in love with her. James Potter.

“Sure. Whatever you say Lily.” Lily made an annoyed sound, pursing her lips and turning away. Lily was waiting for Lovette to tell her about how she got fired, but Lovette wasn't going to give in by silence.

“So... how did they get you fired?” Lily finally caved in, wanting to hear what stupid thing their friends did.

“Well, where to start...”

~*~*~*~*~

“’Ello Love.”
“Hey Siri.”
“How’s it feel to be unemployed?”

Lovette was early to Diagon Alley. Having never been punctual in her life, Sirius was quite taken aback by Lovette’s sudden appearance at the Leaky Cauldron.

Like every year, Lovette and her friends met at Diagon Alley, conveniently three days before the start of a new term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

“Hola Amigos! Bren is HERE!” The unmistakable Scottish accent of Brenna Flynn erupted from the Leaky Cauldron fireplace. Soon enough, a head of black hair was visible as the green flames of Floo Powder died down.

Lovette giggled as her friend sauntered from the fireplace, and hugged her. Brenna Flynn, better known as Bren, was tall and thin, unlike Lovette who was thin but shorter. Brenna had crystal-like blue eyes, high cheekbones, a pixie nose, and thinner lips.

Bren was different, but a different beauty all her own. She always wore several bracelets on each arm, an odd assortment of clothes, and several piercings; including three earrings in each ear (although she did seem to have a new piercing in her cartilage on her left ear), and an eyebrow ring. Her hair color and style seemed to change with every public appearance. Today though, it was black and wavy, her natural state.

“Ahh, Miss Luclare! Pleasure to make your acquaintance again.” Brenna said, mocking a gentleman by bowing and kissing Lovette’s hand. Lovette tried not to laugh out loud.
“Ahh, but the pleasure is all mine Miss Flynn.” Lovette curtsied, Sirius rolled his eyes and chuckled.
“I swear, you two are mental.” Both girls grinned.

A coughing and spluttering caught everyone’s attention in the tavern as a soot-covered Remus Lupin made his way out of the fireplace, closely followed by James Potter.

It had to have been a full moon last night, Lovette mused sadly, he looks terrible.

Remus did look terrible. Not only was his skin paler, but he had minor cuts and bruises on his face and arms. He had a slight limp when he walked over to his friends, James behind him.

“Bon jour Remie!” Brenna yelled to Remus, even though he was right beside her. Remus blushed, giving his face a bit of color.

They would be a strange couple...
“And Monsieur Potter as well.” Brenna said, waving her hand toward James to show recognition. James rolled his eyes while chortling.

The five friends waited, impatiently, for the arrival of their other two companions. Soon enough, a disheveled Lily Evans tripped out of the fireplace. She coughed, attempting to brush the ash off herself. Much to the amusement of his friends, James shoved his hands in his pockets and became interested in his shoes, blushing.

“LILY FLOWER!” Sirius, Lovette, and Brenna shouted in unison, much to the annoyance of both Lily and the tavern.

“GET OUT!” Tom, the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, yelled at the teens. The six teenagers scrambled out of the bar, Lovette, Sirius, and Brenna grinning.

“We’re still missing Peter though! What should we do?” A concerned Lily asked her friends. Sirius waved a hand dismissively.

“He’ll figure it out...we always get kicked out of restaurants.”
“Yeah, that’s the third one this month!” James added, high-fiving his friend.
“I don’t want to know, do I?” Brenna asked Lovette. Lovette shook her head mouthing ‘no’

~*~*~*~*~

“So, Ol’ Faithful finally died, huh?” Sirius asked Lovette absentmindedly. She nodded, critiquing each and every owl on display at The Magical Menagerie.
“Well, I’m not surprised. That thing was ancient…” Sirius trailed off as he watched Lovette.

Her head was cocked to one side, her brow furrowed, chewing on her index fingernail. A look of deep thought donning her soft features. Her glasses sat somewhat lopsidedly on her ears, the rectangular black rims framing her brown eyes. Her brown curls were pulled back loosely in a bun, a few rebellious wisps outlining her face.

She looked cute, but not just cute…something else. Sirius couldn’t put his finger on it. There was no real word to describe Lovette, let alone her beauty. She was just so…Lovette.

Yes. He thought she was beautiful. She was his best girlfriend. Not as in girlfriend but as in 'friend who just happens to be a girl'.

Did he want her as his girlfriend? No…and yes.

He’d always thought about it, asking her out.
But what if she said ‘no’? That’d be humiliating. She’d never look at him the same way again…
But what if she said ‘yes’? That would be even worse. What if they broke up? Then their friendship would be forever ruined. And he definitely valued their friendship…

But what if they didn’t break up?
That question was easily answered: Sirius was notorious for not being able to keep a girlfriend for more than a week. But would it be different with Lovette? He highly doubted so.

Sirius sighed, annoyed with his internal conflict and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“What?” Lovette asked in annoyance, obviously taking his sigh as an insult. Sirius was snapped from his thoughts.
“Huh?”
“If you don’t want to be here, you didn’t have to volunteer to come with me.” She said shortly, her lips pursed.

Sirius had volunteered earlier to come with Lovette to pick out a new owl. She had insisted that she was a “big girl” and could “look out for herself”, but Sirius was, if possible, more persistent.

“No, I was just thinking.” He countered, not in the mood to get on her bad side. She rolled her eyes. Now that annoyed him.
“Please, you thinking…”
“Lovette, if you don’t want me here…”

Oh no, here comes another fight. Yes, Lovette and Sirius were best friends. But they fought constantly. Both had unbelievably short tempers and prides greater than the continent of Europe. Usually the fights began from snippy comments from one and then the other reacting.

Always ending in Sirius backing down. He couldn’t have her hate him. He lov- cared for her too much to have her hate him.

“You were the one who agreed to go!” She snapped, her eyes flashing.
“I was worried about you!” He retorted, throwing his hands in the air.
“I’m a-”
“‘A big girl and you can take care of yourself’ Yes, I know Lovette. That’s always your excuse, isn’t it? Why didn’t you just tell me to sod off then?”

She rolled her eyes again, chuckling sardonically.
“Would you have honestly listened to me? No! And please, stop lying to me with that ‘I was worried about you’ crap. Just tell me the truth!” She shouted. By now the other customers in the store had their undivided attention on the two friends. Lovette noticed this and quickly barked,
“Oh sod off!” Everyone heard the anger in her voice, and immediately reverted their attention to something else.

Lovette turned back to Sirius, her hands on her hips, her livid eyes piercing his own.

Sirius stood in front of Lovette, his mind reeling for a way out of this argument. But for once, there were no loopholes. He couldn’t really tell her why he always tagged along with her.

He sighed, defeated and merely walked out of the store, leaving a stunned Lovette in his wake.

“WELL THAT’S REALLY RICH!” She screamed at him, although she doubted whether he heard her.

She then turned her attention back to one of the shop’s worker. And in a sweet voice, as if nothing had happened, she said.
“I’ll take that one.”